Local farmers careful in choosing livestock processor

Andre Gallant

Tuesday

Jul 31, 2012 at 8:43 PM

A gravel driveway and a parallel tree line box out a rectangular pasture filled with heirloom breed cattle and chickens at Blackbriar Farms in Oglethorpe County. In an adjacent field, Katahdin sheep graze under a wide tree canopy, lambs ducking under their mother's belly as humans tromp rudely through their grassy living room.

Eventually, Leslie and John Lawson, operators of Blackbriar Farms, will truck their livestock to a processor outside of Augusta - an hour and a half journey - to the facility that will turn the animals into cross-cut shanks, briskets and numerous other cuts for farmers market shoppers and fine dining restaurants.

The Lawsons are some of the growing number of Northeast Georgia farmers keeping natural and organically fed and pasture raised animals like lamb, chicken, cows and pigs - farmers who believe in giving their animals healthy, free range lives and humane deaths.

Ten years ago, Athens Locally Grown, a Web-based farmers market, featured no livestock farmers, according Eric Wagoner, the market's creator. At the market's Thursday pickups at Ben's Bikes on Broad Street, wide coolers now are packed regularly with meats from 10 different farms.

Livestock farmers like Blackbriar Farms make up only 3 percent of the U.S. market for beef. But as meat consumption has declined nationwide in recent years, direct-to-consumer meat sales - at farmers markets, for example - have grown 20 percent per year for many years, according to a USDA study.

But before their customers thaw, cook and gnaw on local farmers' chops, breasts and steaks, the animals must be slaughtered and processed.

Small-scale farmers can't just walk into the nearest game butcher. By law, they have to find a federally- or state-inspected processing facility.

Around the country, processors are geared toward high-volume clients, and can't accommodate a farmer pulling up to their facilities with a few head of cattle or pigs.

"I feel lucky that I found someone under two hours away, and it's a nice drive," said Jake Francis, a chef turned pig farmer whose Pork Chop Hill pigs are served at The National and Farm 255 in Athens and at Leon's and Brick Store in Decatur, among other private customers.

Francis, like the Lawsons, drives down to Happy Valley Processing outside of Augusta, where, luckily for the farmers, they found a receptive processor willing to deliver the specific, less traditional cuts that gourmands in Athens and Atlanta desire. Many local producers drive to Tennessee or North Carolina to find processors who meet their requirements.

"It's hard to get processors to see value in different cuts," said Francis, who shopped around Northeast Georgia and the Carolinas for a processor he felt comfortable with.

There are "more creative ways of using a pig" than just pork chops, he said.

Translating culinary language isn't the only outside difficulty farmers trying to ethically raise livestock encounter. One pig farmer interviewed for this article said the first processor he employed beat his hogs in front of him, a violent act contrary to the animals' treatment on his farm.

Both Francis and the Lawsons said they worried about the stress their animals endure on the long drive to Augusta, but they take comfort in the fact that Happy Valley Processing is considered the most humane processor in the area. Both told stories of shedding tears when delivering their first herds to the processor.

But compared to the industrial farms most meat comes from, Leslie Lawson said, life on their farm is pleasant for livestock.

"Happy animals make good food," she said.

BRAISED PORK SHANKS

2- to 3-lb. pork shank

½ cinnamon stick

2 cloves

1 star anise

10 whole black peppercorns

2 bay leaves

3 juniper berries smashed

½ teaspoon fennel seed

1 jalapeno, halved lengthwise

1 medium onion, roughly chopped

1 medium carrot, roughly chopped

Few sprigs of thyme

2 branches rosemary

1 can of coconut milk

1 cup of whole milk

4 cups of apple cider

1½ tablespoon salt

Place a large cast iron pan on the stovetop on high heat. Generously season the pork shank on all sides with salt and pepper. Add two tablespoons of blended oil to the hot cast iron. Sear the pork shank on all sides until nice and caramelized. Pull the shank from the pan and set aside.

Add all other ingredients to a braising pot or crock-pot. Place pot on stovetop at medium-low heat. Slowly heat up the braising liquid, stirring constantly. Add the seared shank to the braising liquid. There should be enough liquid to almost cover the shank - if not add a little water.

Lower the heat to low and braise the shank on the stovetop, with the lid ever so slightly ajar. Make sure to agitate/stir the shank and braise as to not scorch the dairy. Adjust heat if the you think that it is too high.

Check the shank after 2 hours. If you place a skewer or paring knife in the shank, it should come out with little or no resistance. It should look like a Flintstone's roast: a ball of meat with a giant bone sticking out.

When properly braised, carefully pull the shank from the pot, keeping the meat and bone intact. Set aside. Skim most of the fat from the liquid with a ladle or spoon, and then strain. Discard solids. Place the shank in a serving dish and pour a small of amount of the braising liquid over it. Serve immediately.

- Recipe by Jake O. Francis

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